Toyota Sienna 3.3 LE

Three words: Power Door Buttons! The Toyota Sienna people carrier offers a button on the inside column between the front seat and middle seat to open or close the power doors! The Odyssey does not. What a convenience it is along with the remote control, the door handles themselves, and the overhead controls from the driver seat! I have 2 little toddlers and those 2 little buttons are used every time I get them in and out of the car!!

I LOVE THIS CAR! We have two teenage kids and now have three month old twins. We've been looking for the ideal minivan to suit our entire family needs for about 8 months! By the time we'd done, we knew more about the Sienna, Odyssey, Quest etc than even the most knowledgeable salesman!

We have the 2004 8 seat edition. It drives like a dream, very smooth, turns on a penny, and feels very solid. The spring loaded assembly on the rear seats is great for anyone with a bad back to be able to drop the seats down into the flat position. Loads of space in the boot/trunk for the twin stroller and the many accessories that we need to drag around with us.

The height of the van is great for lifting baby seats in and out of and the doors open at both sides making it easy to reach in and lift the babies out.

We were originally going to remove the eight seat (middle center) until we needed it when the relatives came to visit but it has proven to be so handy that we have decided to keep it in for now. It is so comfortable that you really don't feel you are sitting on a 2nd row seat. There's Loads of room to hop into the back and sit between the twins to give them a bottle whilst on the go.

Side opening windows are a real bonus, though they will come into their own when the kids get older. When traveling alone with the babies, it is easy to pull over when needed and step into the back to care for them. The third row seats are 60/40 split unlike the Odyssey's single bench seat. This is a HUGE benefit. The stroller can stand up in the "40" floor-well whilst the "60" is folded flat into the floor to make space to carry all those huge bulky boxes from Babies R Us!

As you can see I am enthralled with this minivan. It has a rear seat audio that enables the teen boys to listen to their CD's whilst we in the rest of the car can listen to our boring radio station.

My final point... my husband advises me that Toyota will deactivate that all door automatic unlocking action at our request on the car's first service. That's reassuring to know!